


30 prompts Mass Effect

by t0rqu3b0t



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Gen, Headcanon background, Some Crack, Some Fluff, a little bit of angst, colonist shep, paragon shep, vanguard shep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 11:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1224715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0rqu3b0t/pseuds/t0rqu3b0t
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically I just looked at a prompt table and write some drabbles. Go easy on me this is literally my first attempt at fanfiction. I have no idea what the rest is going to look like so I guess we'll find out. If you want to leave a prompt go ahead. I will try to fill it though I make no promises. They mostly revolve around shakarian, but there will definitely be appearances from everybody else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1-8

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING! All flames will be laughed at and promptly deleted. If you don't have something constructive to say about my work don't say anything. Everyone else thanks for reading.

1\. Evidence  
For months there had been a rumor going around that the Commander’s bad dancing was actually just a ruse, ever since Kasumi had found that blurry grainy video of a ballet recital on Mindoir. Problem was, whoever took it was too far away from the stage for a good look at the lead dancer. Not even Tali could clean it up enough, so there was never any evidence to confront the Commander with.

2\. I’m Here

After he was settled on the new Normandy, the first thing Garrus did was look for the Commander. He’d seen the haunted look in her eyes after the joy of seeing him faded away. His best friend was back from the dead and it sure as hell looks like she needed someone to hold her and tell her they were there for her.

3\. Funeral

Garrus had been to funerals before but this was by far the hardest of all of them. He hadn’t even been there, hadn’t been there to keep her safe like he promised he would… to himself anyway. That was the hardest part, his best friend was dead and he will never know if him being there would’ve changed anything. He knew it wouldn’t do him any good, beating himself up like this, but Shepard was dead and he didn’t know what else to do.

4\. Puppy Love

People always said puppy love was innocent and harmless but Shepard knew better. What she and Toombs had may have been puppy love, but losing him the first time had been one of the most painful parts of her life, overshadowed only by the trauma of Thresher Maw attack. Losing him the second time, years later after the revelation of Cerberus and what they’d done to her and her team on that planet, would’ve shattered her beyond all repair, despite the fact that she’d moved on, if she hadn’t been surrounded by friends who knew that pain just as well. If Garrus and Wrex hadn’t been there that day, there would be no universe, because she would’ve been too emotionally unstable to do anything to fight the Reapers.

5\. Gloves

Shepard had small hands. There were times she hated that fact, especially when her latest pair of gloves started wearing out. That was the curse of small hands, you could never find gloves that fit properly. So imagine her surprise when she wears out a pair of gloves after bringing the thief on board, and lo and behold Kasumi has an extra set of gloves that fit her perfectly. Shepard wastes no time in figuring out where Kasumi gets her gloves, and has been using her supplier ever since.

6\. Blackboard

In most settings it was the most innocuous thing ever, but not in this one. Not when the setting is an old rogue Cerberus lab, and the writing is in blood not in chalk. No, this was the most disturbing blackboard Shepard had ever seen, and she figured that the sight would be even more so with the writing still legible. Either way, she’d seen more than enough to decide that letting Jack blow this place was by far the most appropriate end for this little pet shop of horrors.

7\. Muse

When Shepard was a little girl, before the Batarians came, she’d painted prolifically. These days however, she could rarely bring herself to pick up a pencil to sketch, let alone a brush and pallet to paint. But then there were quiet nights like this, lazing on the couch in her quarters with Garrus, when the artificial lighting caught his plating just right that made her want to pick up brush and never stop painting. It seemed she’d found her muse again.

8\. Magic  
During the battle against the Collectors, Garrus and Tali often joked that Shepard must have some sort of magic powers. How else could she have collected so many people, an assassin, a Justicar, two Cerberus agents, a crazy woman, a Salarian scientist, and others and made them so fiercely loyal. Really it was the only possible explanation.


	2. 9, 10, and 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here are the next three prompts.

9\. Clean  
The Krogan may have been celebrating the success of Grunt's Rite, and really, Shepard was happy for him, of course, but after Akuze, Thresher Maws were sore subject. And Shepard was, sore that is. Sore, tired, and filthy, not to mention emotionally fragile. All she wanted to do was get on to the Normandy, out of her armor and into the shower. She wasn't going to feel even remotely clean until she gotten all of the thresher maw gore off of herself. But until then the best thing she could think of was to find Wrex and Garrus and compare battle stories. Hah. Wrex always did have the best stories after all. Besides, he'd always been something of a father figure to her and well, she missed him.

10\. Secrets (ties into evidence)  
With a thief on board it was nearly impossible to keep secrets on board the Normandy but Shepard felt it was necessary. But ever since Kasumi had found that old recital footage of her last performance before the raid, (and yes it really was her) it'd been even harder to get away to the AI core to dance for a while. Really it was the perfect place, EDI was plugged in everywhere on the ship so it was futile to try and keep this from it (her, Shepard had to remind herself. EDI was female, artificial or not). So instead Taryn had decided to ask for her help. EDI was far more likable now that her shackles had been removed. So for now, until she decided to let Garrus in on the secret, the truth that she actually could dance would stay between her and EDI.

11\. Superstition  
Garrus wasn't normally a superstitious Turian. He believed in the Spirits true, but then so did most other Turians. But tonight of all nights he figured he could use all the luck he could get his talons on. It'd been six months since he had last seen Commander Taryn Shepard, since she and Joker had turned themselves into the Alliance Navy so she could face "punishment" for the events at Bahak. Dammit all, why couldn't people get it into their heads that she wouldn't have done that if she had had any other options. But that was all over now. Now he was back on the Normandy, even if it didn't look the way it had before, and why, oh why did they have to mess with the Battery. Yes the gun was better but who knew how long it would take to get it properly calibra- oh Spirits, there she was, fiery mane tamed into her regulation bun. He didn't think she'd ever looked so beautiful. This was it. In an hour he'd either be reunited with his lover or a broken hearted Turian.


	3. Fantasy and Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next two prompts are here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get these out. I've been swamped by school work. Next couple should be out by next Wednesday.

12\. Fantasy

Sometimes when there was a quiet night shift on the Normandy ( few and far between in the face of the ongoing Reaper invasion) when Garrus and Taryn were both off duty, Garrus would dream. Well he dreamed a lot but there was a specific dream he sometimes had on these nights. He and Taryn were on Palaven in the city where he had been born and raised and she was wearing that light yellow dress that she kept hidden in the back of her dresser and never wore. That was how he knew he was dreaming; Palaven's surface was so thoroughly bombarded with radiation that no human could spend any lengthy amount of time on its surface without at least some armor. It was a nice thought though. And honestly this dream was the only place he really ever saw her with her hair down and loose to the small of her back. Usually it was only ever down when she showered; even in bed she kept it bound in that rope thing she called a braid. But the part of this dream, this fantasy he would never admit to anyone, not even Taryn herself, was how she was never alone in this dream, though it wasn't Garrus who kept her company. No it was always the same small turian child, bearing the juvenile form of Garrus' own clan markings, always present on Taryn's hip with their arms around her neck. But the part that always took his breath away was when she would turn around and the swell of her belly was readily apparent. That part might never happen but maybe if they both survived this war, maybe they could adopt a few. Spirits only knew how much he wanted to have a family with her.

13\. Test

The entire time that Shepard, Garrus, and Kasumi were working their way through Dantius Towers, Shepard had felt as though she was being watched by someone other than Garrus (Garrus was always watching her). She couldn't help but feel as though the gaze as testing her, evaluating her skills somehow. No matter where they went, the feeling never stopped and she had to admit that it was highly unnerving. So when they finally got to Nassana's office, Shepard was on edge and more than a little bit pissed. Then Thane had dropped from the ceiling and the eyes disappeared and she knew that he had been the one watching. Then he revealed that he had been using them as a distraction and for an instant she was absolutely livid. The only reason she hadn't hauled off and nailed him in the face with a biotically enhanced fist (tried to anyway, she probably wouldn't have hit him, he was too fast even for Kasumi most days) was that Garrus moved and she remembered why they needed him in the first place. Eventually though, Shepard did forgive Thane for the way he tested her that day.


	4. Tease and Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here are the next couple prompts, sorry they are a little late.

14\. Tease  
The best part of the new relationship between Joker and EDI was that now Shepard and Garrus could get revenge on Joker for all of the teasing he had done to them while they were still trying to figure out exactly what they were to each other. That wasn't even taking into account how EDI kept coming to Shepard for dating advice. It was the perfect opportunity for Shepard to make things really awkward for those two if she really felt like it. The best part though? Joker was so caught up in EDI, Garrus suspected that he wouldn't notice what he and Shepard were doing until it was far to late to stop them.

 

15\. Storm  
Hagalaz was literally the most terrifying place that Shepard had ever been even when one took the Yaag out of the picture and put all the Cerberus bases, Collector ships, and derelict Reapers she had been in. Even worse than the memories of being spaced. All because of that storm. Normally the Commander was perfectly fine in a thunderstorm, they weren't really a big deal for her, but then again normally she wasn't walking on the outer hull of a gigantic spaceship, in flight, in the middle of the single largest thunderstorm she had ever experienced. Literally the only thing keeping her in the moment and grounded was Garrus' constant litany of Turian in her ear over their private comm. She had no idea what he was saying exactly because for some reason he had turned the translator off on this channel but she knew one thing for sure. Garrus was definitely getting properly rewarded when they got back to the Normandy.


	5. Strawberries and Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've got them typed up and ready so why wait.

16\. Strawberries  
When Shepard was a child, the one thing that was always around was the smell of strawberries. Her mother had loved the fruit and there had always been a windowsill planter full of them in every window in the house. No matter what, whenever Taryn smelled them, she thought of her mother. But after the Batarians, she had literally been sick every time she came across the scent for years afterwards, because whenever she did, the flashbacks came back. Eventually that stopped but she still had a problem with the scent and the taste of the fruit. Needless to say, she was understandably upset when, on her birthday, Kaidan, (who still hadn’t gotten the memo) gave her a basket of chocolate covered strawberries. On the other hand, Kaidan had backed off for quite a while afterwards. Practical, considering she’d looked like she wanted to kill him, according to Wrex and Tali been there at the time.  
17\. Weapon  
Before she’d met Garrus Vakarian, Commander Taryn Shepard had always been a close range fighter. She’d been a Vanguard, but more often than not she was throwing her biotic weight around like a baby Krogan (on second thought maybe an adolescent Krogan, she was definitely better at it than Grunt.) She hadn’t really made the connection with guns like she had with her biotics but she’d always had a soft spot for her shotguns. The only reason she wasn’t an Adept instead was because she didn’t have the kind of power needed. But watching Garrus with his sniper rifle, how sometimes he could take out an entire group of enemies before they were anywhere near Shepard’s effective range or even Wrex or Tali’s for that matter, since Ashley rarely came on missions anymore, too distrustful, and Kaidan couldn’t get the point that she wasn’t interested and Liara definitely grew into a reliable and effective squad member once Shepard had taken her under her wing, definitely caught Shepard’s attention. So after Therrum she’d gone to him and asked him to teach her. Garrus turned out to be an amazing teacher; within a few months between Therrum and Ferros, with Noveria in between, Shepard’s fighting style had changed completely. Years later Shepard would laughingly comment that the best part about the Cerberus mods was that without them she would never have been able to handle the Black Widow. She’d then more seriously say that one would have to pry that rifle out of her cold dead hands if they wanted to take it from her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beach and Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I got swamped with schoolwork and I've been betaing for Yoruki. But I do have backlog so you'll be getting it in the next couple days.

18\. Beach  
This, Shepard thought, was the worst trip to the beach of her life. Of course that probably had something to do with why she, Tali, Garrus, and Chakwas were there. After all, when were funerals ever fun? Especially for someone as close to an older brother as she’d ever had. On that note, Kahje was definitely just as humid as Thane had made it seem. Oh dammit, she promised herself she wasn’t going to cry but she couldn’t help herself. Thankfully, Garrus was paying attention and was right next to her for her to lean on. Damn, looks like they’re starting now; Kolyat’s moving down to the waterline. Yeah, definitely starting now; there come the Hanar with his body. From here, Taryn knows what to expect. After all, Thane had described Irika’s to her during the hunt for the Collectors. But then, from everywhere around her, a vibrating rumble began. Startled, she looked around and realized it was the other Drell, who she assumed were other members of Thane’s family. Things body slipped into the water and the sound stopped. When she asked Kolyat about it later, all he would say was that it was a song of mourning. But right now, all she knew was that Thane really was gone forever.

19\. Lost  
In her life, Shepard had lost a lot of people; her family and friends on Mindoir, her team on Akuze, Jenkins, Kaidan and that was just until the first Normandy was destroyed. Then it was Presley, Pakti, Chase, Dubyansky, Waaberi, Tucks, Grenado, Barret, Gladstone, Emerson, Lowe, Bakari, Rahman, Greiko, Negulesco, Laflamme, Tanaka, Felawa, Crosby, and the Draven sisters when Normandy was destroyed. She remembered the mall, after all if she remembered the names of the ships she sacrificed for the Council, what kind of commander would she be if she didn’t do the same for her own people? But it didn’t end there, much as she wished it would’ve. Thane, who she’d seen as an older brother, Mordin, who’d been like a beloved uncle, Legion, it sacrificed itself for the most selfless cause she’d ever seen, Anderson, at the Citadel from his injuries after the elusive man killed himself, and then EDI and the Geth when she’d chosen to destroy. But that last decision might not be permanent. Tali and the other Quarians believed they could be brought back. But despite all this loss, Shepard would keep going because the one person she really needed was still here: Garrus.


	7. Morals and Defiant

20\. Morals  
Sometimes, Shepard thought, the most honorable people you knew had the weirdest morals. And the bomb that Mordin just dropped revealed some pretty weird ones. Shepard definitely saw where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean she agreed with him. Quite the opposite in fact. She did agree that the first time around, the Genophage was probably the best course of action, but now? Was neutering the Krogans a second time really the right thing to do? A week later when Maelon had been taken care of, she could see that Mordin was having the same thoughts and was glad that she’d convinced him to keep the data. Months later she was even happier to know that that decision would help stop the Reapers. Afterwards though, Shep would wish that her surrogate uncle hadn’t had to sacrifice himself to fix his actions. She understood the need to do it, but sometimes she would wonder if maybe a shuttle might’ve been able to save them. But at least he went out for Science. She likes to think that was the way he would’ve wanted to go.  
21\. Defiant  
The first thing that struck David Anderson when he saw his goddaughter after the attack on Mindoir that took her father, his best friend, and her mother was the defiance in her eyes. Samuel Shepard had been a cadet at the Academy with Anderson years ago and they been thick as thieves back then. At the time David hadn’t understood why Sam had left the academy to go to the farm his mom and dad had started of the colony Mindoir after his dad died but he did eventually. They’d stayed tight after that and Sam had even asked him to be his best man when he married Alyssa. Being godfather to his little girl was still to this day the highest honor of his life. But that little girl wasn’t so innocence anymore. She was 14 going on 40 now. But Anderson was proud of her anyway. His goddaughter and taken her father’s rifle and shot anyone who came near her wasn’t human. Even then she’d been suspicious but she’d survived and that was what mattered. But then Taryn Shepard had looked up and whispered so softly he could barely hear, “Uncle David?”, and he knew it wasn’t over yet. But whatever was coming, they’d get through together.


	8. Untouchable and Rhythm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get these to you guys. Life got in the way.

22\. Untouchable  
It would always gall Caius Vakarian, the way that Council Spectres wielded their power. He could honestly say that he had never met a Spectre he had liked. So he was understandably hostile when he learned that his son, Garrus, had left C-Sec to go after a rogue Spectre ( that part was commendable) with another Spectre, and the worst part in his opinion? That the Spectre he was with was _Human ___of all things! Humans already thought that they were untouchable; one with the power and resources of the Council behind them? It was Caius’ worst nightmare given life. The woman’s deranged ravings about the Reapers of all things didn’t help his opinion of her either. Little did Caius know that in just three years time, that single human Spectre would not only be responsible for funding the research that saved his wife’s life but also for saving the Galaxy from the ‘fairy tales’ he’d once thought her mad for.  
23\. Rhythm  
The hardest part of working with Shepard, many squad members quickly discovered, was figuring out her rhythms in battle. The squad members from the original Normandy had had to deal with Shepard’s tendency to rush into close quarters the moment a fight started, though admittedly, as Shepard improved with her sniper rifle that problem lessened considerably. After Cerberus though, the problem was now with Shepard’s newly bolstered biotics. Before, she’d been about average, nowhere near as powerful as Kaiden, but now? Now she could hold her own against Jack, and more impressively, with an Asari Justicar, even if Samara always got the upper hand after a few minutes because Taryn tired quickly at that level. But eventually, people adapted, even if Shepard, who now tended to stay with the snipers, still sometimes, out of nowhere, decided that she felt like getting in the enemies faces. Let it be noted that Garrus, along with many other squad members, maintains that Shepard loves that biotic Charge a little too much.


	9. Agony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I got swamped with school. This will likely be the last update until July. My Life is getting hectic. Sorry.

24\. Agony  
Cerberus was filled with nothing but idiotic imbeciles, and yes, for future reference, Joker did in fact know what imbeciles meant. He readily admitted that he had a slightly off-color sense of humor, even a little morbid if he was being honest, but really, Cerberus’ stunt with the Commander’s quarters was going too far from any perspective. Because honestly, what normal, sane person decides that installing a viewport to the stars above the bed of a person who had been brought back from death by suffocation in the vacuum of space was a good idea? How stupid or vindictive does one need to be to knowingly cause a person to relive the agony of their death every time they went to bed or woke up? It was official; Cerberus was a bunch of idiots, especially Miranda and dear old Timmy boy.


	10. Obssession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You guys can thank GalaxyWanderer for this one. I'm Betaing their awesome series I run to you and they just threw this prompt out at me like half an hour ago. they wanted to see Shepard acting in a very un shepard like manner around puppies or something and making some ungodly sound that made Garrus cringe. Closet Shepard made herself known.Here it is.

25\. Obssession  
As much as Garrus loved Taryn, there were days that he really wanted to strangle her; like today for example. It started out perfectly fine; they had some leave time on the Citadel and no one had any important, life-threatening problems that she just had to help them with. They had even managed to get off the ship in civvies. But then everything went to hell when they had passed by the gaming kiosk. Taryn had let out the most piercing keen he’d heard in a long time and for a moment, after he had recovered from the pain the sound had caused, he had thought they were being attacked. Imagine his annoyance when she ran up to the employee and started going on about some game she saw in the display; What in the name of the Spirits was a Zelda and why was there a legend about them? Whatever it was, the employee was just as excited as Taryn was. Garrus ended up just watching the two of them in horror for nearly half an hour before they finally calmed down and Taryn walked away from the kiosk with the most unnerving smile on her face, and maniacal giggles escaped her for the entire walk back to the Normandy. But the worst part of the day? He made the mistake of asking her what a Zelda was and spent the next two weeks getting a thorough education on the many various intricacies of the nearly hundred games in the Legend of Zelda franchise.


	11. Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Found my muse again! For now anyway.

26\. Language  
Unfortunately, Garrus would never be able to teach Taryn to speak any form of Turian; Human vocal chords simply couldn’t produce the sheer range of sound needed. What he could do was teach her how to correctly interpret Turian subvocals. Spirits knew that they would be spending enough time around Turians if they managed to survive this war with the Reapers. Granted, they wouldn’t be able to live on Palaven, given the fact that humans were extremely susceptible to the radiation that continually bombarded the planet’s surface. But she would need to know those subvocals if she wanted to be able get through the introduction to his family, especially his father. That isn’t to say that his father was any threat to Shepard; Garrus was more worried about his father’s life in that situation. In any event, before he did that, he would have to get her to modify her translator to amplify the subvocals so she could hear them in the first place. Garrus figured this was worth braving Mordin and his chattiness. Well, he hoped it was anyway.


	12. Ammunition, Diplomacy, Military, Hellfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it but this monster is finally done. I can't believe how much effort just these few thousand words cost me, but I have to say that the rush from all the kudos and comments you guys have left me was totally worth it. It will probably be a while before I can get my Mass Effect muse to cooperate since I've been bitten by my Girl Genius Muses (which look suspiciously like a certain trio of jagers) but you will hear more from me. Thank you all for your support and I hope you enjoy this last Chapter of 30 prompts Mass Effect.

27\. Ammunition

While there were a lot of things that Zaeed and Jacob disagreed on concerning weapons, the one thing they could agree on was that whoever the hell had thought it was a good idea to get rid of the heat sink for ammo and replace them with old ammo clip tech, was the most hated person in the galaxy. Hell, Zaeed hated the son of a bitch more than he did Vido, which is quite the accomplishment considering how much the old mercenary hated the leader of the Blue Suns.

28\. Diplomatic

As well spoken as Commander Taryn Shepard was, the one word no one who knew her would ever use to describe her was diplomatic. As controlled as she could be due to military training, she just didn’t feel the need to sugar coat things for others. Oh, she could, don’t make that mistake, but unless it was a matter of life and death, Shepard was just going to say what she thought, no matter how brutal that might be. Unfortunately, this also applied to herself; as decisive as she appeared to others, only Garrus would ever realise just how often Shepard dwelled on what ifs. 

29\. Military

When Taryn had signed up for the Alliance Navy, the overwhelming majority of people who met her seemed to assume that she was doing this for revenge against the Batarians, that she was only doing this in some vain attempt for vengeance. They had no idea how wrong they were. She wasn’t doing this because of the Batarians; she was doing this because of the people she most looked up to. Her father and her uncle David both served, though her father’s service had been cut short. Even before the Batarians, when she was painting and dancing, she had always intended to follow in the footsteps of those men whom she loved and admired so much. She knew that; she didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought.

30\. Hellfire

As much as Caius Vakarian had wanted to loathe the woman who would soon be his only son’s mate, the first time he truly met her, he could see in her eyes that she was no soft, ignorant, entitled human; this was a female who had survived so much more than any one being deserved to in an entire lifetime, let alone in less than four decades. This was a woman who had willingly walked through hellfire for the entire galaxy, not just for her own species. No this was a female who rivaled his own Nicali in ferocity, determination, and protectiveness and he couldn’t help but thank the Spirits that his son had managed to find such a female who loved him, and Caius figured that that mattered far more than Shepard’s species ever would.


End file.
